The Tigress of the Straw Hats
by Unslaadtoorjun
Summary: What happens when some one hires the Straw Hat pirates to take them to the Grand Line? Rated M for future chapters.


**A/N Hello and welcome to the Home Shopping Network... wait that's not right... Ohhh yeahhh.**

**Welcome to my first fic!**

**This one here 'borrows' several parts from On The Ocean Blue by NikoArtagnan. If she reads this and asks it to be taken down I'll have to do that and continue writing it for myself only lol. It's not as AU as hers is and no where near as dark (Though hers is still a-maze-ing). In fact, it's fairly canon. Not too canon though. Anyways! I hope you all like it!**

**And for those who don't. Write your review and lace it in the complaints department!XD *holds up a garbage can***

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><p>There was a woman walking down the pounded dirt road that snaked its way through Lougetown.<p>

She was tall, standing a little over 6"0'. She wore baggy, over sized clothing that very well hid the fact that she was a women: a brown hooded jacket, long black pants that were bunched up over a pair of black combat boots, that unknown to the rest of the world were practically bottomless, and dark sage green gloves. Most people would look at her and see a gruff threatening man, not the beautiful (if not slightly scarred) women she was.

Her almost impossibly black hair went down to the small of her back, pulled into a loose ponytail, with her bangs covering half of her eyes.

If not for one unusual thing about her you would think her to be a pirate or bounty hunter. That unusual thing being an orange cat, laying lazily on her head. However if you looked close enough you'd notice it wasn't a cat, but a tiger cub.

The women stopped and sniffed the air.

"Ya smell that, Lu?" Her voice further hid the fact she was female. It was gruff and deep, but slightly effeminate.

The cub let out a yowl as she reached up and scratched behind its ears.

"Yeah, smells good huh?"

She looked to their left to see a fancy looking restaurant. Fumbling around in her pockets earned a scowl on her face. _'Fuck, I'm broke!'_ She looked around and saw a fairly rich looking woman walking her direction and her face immediately lit up as a smirk crossed her lips.

"Time to earn some spendin money, Lu!"

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><p>Ignis D. Nikita sat in the back of the restaurant, nestled into the corner, seeming to be asleep. But in reality she was as alert as if she had the marines looking for her. And she did. If it wasn't for the large sunglasses she had stolen from a drunk and her turtle neck shirt pulled over her chin, she wouldn't dare be as relaxed as she was.<p>

She sighed mentally. She'd been looking for a ship to take her to the Grand Line, but few people were going there. Even if the marines weren't looking for her, she still wouldn't ask them, the dogs of the world government.

She asked some pirates, but she trusted none of them, seeing the greed in their eyes. She just wanted to be taken to the Grand Line by some one who wouldn't bother her or her cub, and without asking questions.

There was another reason she had to be sure she could trust whomever took her to her destination.

She pulled one of her sleeves back slightly. Barely visible in the dim lighting of the restaurant, were beautiful dark blue scales that shimmered lightly. She stared at them with awe and disgust, before pulling her sleeve back down.

Most people who saw her scales assumed she was a fishmen, but they were wrong. Fishman don't have a tail they wrap around their leg to keep it from being seen. Fishman don't have retractable claws that could tear steel. Fishman don't fear humans like she does.

She let out an audible sigh this time. This seemed to rouse the sleeping cub in her lap as it stared up at her.

**_"Mama, why don't you just ask those straw people to help you, they seem like nice people from what you know about them."_**

Nikita stared down at her cub before scratching it under its chin, eliciting a purr.

"Lulu. For starters, I don't even know when they'll get here. I know they haven't came and left, since smokey's still here, damn him.

And... their humans."

Lulu looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes, before she snuggled into her lap more. Nikita sat there listening to her cub purr in her lap for awhile before standing up and leaving.

"Yosh! Lets find a ship off this god forsaken island!" she declared excitedly, earning many glares from around her.

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><p>As they walked the streets Nikita would 'borrow' anything she liked. Food, purses, wallets, clothes, whatever she wanted ended up in her possesion. Her cub wasn't pleased with her mama taking things that had no use to her, like the ornate cane she was now twirling around. She let it go though because she loved her mama to death.<p>

As the two were walking out of an alley, a large stack of bags collided with Nikita, causing her to stumble sideways a bit. The person holding the bags fell over backwards, as well as sending them flying every which way.

"Oh, hell! I'm sorry!" Nikita said, kneeling to help the person up, only to freeze in shock.

It was a woman, wearing a white shirt with yellow stripes, a brown miniskirt, and strappy heeled sandals. her skin was fair and her hair was the color of tangerines. She was the navigator of the Strawhat Pirates, 'Cat Burglar' Nami.

"It's okay. H-help me up, please?" The orange haired girl asked, snapping Nikita out of her shock as she quickly hauled the other female to her feet. She knelt back down and picked up the bags littering the street.

"My apologies." Nikita said, as she let a smile spread across her lips, one that was returned by the navigator.

**_'Mama, ask her. We may never get another chance.'_** Lulu purred.

Nikita watched the slowly receeding form, debating whether or not to ask. She knew they would reach the New World (even if it took them awhile), but what if she altered the time line? She decided to take a chance, throwing caution to the wind.

"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to be going to the Grand Line, would you?

Nami stopped and looked warily at her. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I want to go there myself. I'm willing to pay for and work for a my passage if your ship would take me.

I'm pretty desperate here. No one else seems to be going that way, and I don't have any navigational skills." Nikita admitted.

Nami crossed her arms over her chest and studied her for a long time. "Is that so? Show me the money, then we'll talk."

Nikita sighed with relief mentally. If Nami agreed, then Luffy would too. "Thank you, ma'am"

"It's Nami. If we're going to be travelling together, you should call me by my name... Is that a cat?"

Nikita smiled lightly as she gently petted the cub who was now in her arms.

"Aye, she won't be a problem, will she ma'am?"

Nami held out an arm and scratched the cub behind her ear, eliciting an adorable yowl followed by loud purring. Kelly sniggered at the navigator who all but melted. Who knew tough-as-nails nami was such a sucker for a cat.

"Of course not. Come on, you can carry my bags. We'll negotiate as we go."

Nikita closed her eyes. Just what was she doing. Was she as crazy as she thought she was sometimes. Asking for a ride on the Going Merry.

_'Ah well. I already decided to throw caution to the wind. Besides, the ship will be leaving be the end of the day.'_

She took Nami's bags and gave a courtly bow, winking at the girl.

"Lead on, fair lady!" She declared, only to stare in confusion as nami's eyes widened and she blushed.

"...Is something wrong?" Nikita asked.

"Ah, i-it's nothing. Let's go."

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><p>Nikita felt the ache in her shoulder just before Nami spoke, eyes turned to the sky: "There's going to be a storm."<p>

"How do you know, ma'am?" Nikita asked, masking the pain in her aching shoulder easily.

"The air pressure is dropping," Nami said, quickly turning around. "Grab the bags and let's go. I need to find the rest of my crew."

Nikita placed Lulu on her head before grabbing the bags, and trotting after the orange haired girl. She stared in awe of what was possibly the worlds greatest navigator. After Nikita had shown Nami the amount of money, the rest of the trip had gone fairly easy.

Until the storm started.

Nami and Nikita had ran into (the latter literally) a man with a long nose, whom both recognized immediately, though for different reasons. Nikita tossed Nami's bags to Ussop before cleverly asking what her other crew mates looked like, then ran off saying she would help them on the way.

She ran through the streets till she saw a scene she never thought she'd witness again. Strawhat Luffy, pinned to the ground by the White Hunter. And standing behind him was one of the few people she could trust implicitly. She walked up after Luffy was free and took off. She lunged forward, wrapping around the mans middle.

"Dragon-sama! We missed you!"

Lulu let out a yowl in agreement. Dragon was startled at first, but setteled a hand on her head an ruffled her hair.

"What brings the cubs to Lougetown?"

Nikita gasped in shock before separating from the man.

"I'll be travellin with Luffy for a little while. I'll keep an eye on him for ya.

Bye Smokey!"

Before Smoker could say anything, both people were gone.

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><p>"Come on Nami, we need to leave already!" Ussop yelled at their navigator.<p>

He was right, the marines could be there any second, but Nami wouldn't budge. The man she met was going to come. She just knew it.

"Ussop's right, Nami. This guy who hired us isn't going to show!" Sanji yelled, with hearts in his eyes, glad that the man wasn't coming.

As Nami was about to set sail, a blur jumped aboard the ship. Nami's face instantly turned into one of relief, that the 'man' who hadn't yet paid her had shown up. "Alright you guys! Set sail!" she yelled, the crew doing just that.

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><p>Nikita sat against the wall next to the kitchen door and relaxed, the most she'd relaxed since she stay'd with Dragon. Though she would never completely relax. Not with the fear gnawing away at her. The fear that they would find out about her past. The fear that they would beat her for what she is. The fear that they would do unspeakable things, leaving her for dead or selling her. Like what happened to her many, many times.<p>

Though she would relax, just a little bit more, around Nami. Just like she'd done with...

"Hey! We're out of the... storm... Is something wrong?" Nami asked. It took all of Nikita's willpower not to break down as she stood up.

"Yeah, just had a bad flashback, hehe... " She laughed it off like it was nothing, but Nami didn't but it.

"Yeah, well, are you going to pay me or not... uhh."

Nikita stood there staring down at the orange-haired girl, wondering what she wanted for several moments before it finally hit her.

"That's right! I haven't told ya my name! Hahaha." She let out a hardy laugh as she walked out onto the deck.

The Strawhats were gathered around an open barrel, drinking alcohol and generally being merry, when Nikita walked up to them with Nami following behind a short distance.

"Hey! My name is Ignis Nicholas. It will be a pleasure sailin with you all for awhile." She said, with a loose smile and a light bow. She then pointed just above her head. "This is Lulu." The tiger cub almost on cue let out a yowl.

"Woooooow. You're tall!" The wide-eyed captain said with awe in his voice. Nikita snickered lightly at his comment.

_'I haven't heard his stupid comments in a long time. Maybe this will be more fun then I thought.'_

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading this chapter (unless you just skipped to the bottom like the weirdo you are timmy). Please leave a review. All are welcome. I would love to know how you lovable bastards like my mostly original story lol.<strong>


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